Patent Application
20110124996
Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to diabetes health management systems and, more particularly, to diabetes health management systems residing in a portable electronic device. Embodiments further relate to methods of providing diabetes therapy to a user via a portable electronic device.
As background, persons with diabetes suffer from Type I or Type II diabetes in which the glucose level in the blood is not properly regulated by the body. As a consequence, many persons with diabetes often carry specialized medical devices for monitoring blood glucose (bG) levels and administering insulin. Such devices may include, for example, a blood glucose meter, a continuous blood glucose monitor, and/or an insulin pump.
Blood glucose meters commonly comprise a base unit that houses control and test electronics and a measurement strip receptacle that accepts a disposable measurement strip. One end of the strip is inserted into the measurement strip receptacle while an exposed area contains a reaction site in which the user deposits a drop of blood, which is often obtained by pricking the skin with a lancet. The test result is commonly displayed on the screen of the meter in milligrams per deciliter (mg/dL). Continuous blood glucose monitors commonly comprise a small patch that is worn under the skin and a receiver that displays the continuous blood glucose measurements. An insulin pump provides a user with programmable basal and bolus doses of insulin depending on the user's absorption of insulin, physical activity, food ingested and many other factors.
These specialized medical devices generate large amounts of data over the course of operation. Because proper insulin therapy depends on accurate information such as bG levels, insulin dosage rates and patterns, physical activities, a user's unique reaction to insulin and others, the data generated by these specialized medical devices and other electronic devices is of importance when providing an insulin therapy regimen to a person with diabetes. Currently this data is not collected in real time by a central device is and is not used to make real time insulin therapy decisions. Real time collection of this data and appropriate action would be beneficial to providing accurate and effective insulin therapy.
It is against the above background that embodiments of the present disclosure provide diabetes health management systems that communicate with electronic devices, collect real-time data on a portable device carried by the user, provide insulin therapy to the user based on the real-time data, generate reports, and communicate data and reports to caregivers.
In one embodiment, a diabetes health management system for use in a portable device having a user interface, a processor, a memory, and a communication circuit includes program code further including a communications module, a data module, a therapy module, and an analysis module. The communications module causes the processor to control the communication circuit to wirelessly couple the portable device to a plurality of user devices, and display information provided by the user devices on the user interface. The data module causes the processor to receive and store into the memory blood glucose measurement values, insulin dosage data, and health data entries. The therapy module causes the processor to determine a therapy advice message based at least in part on the received blood glucose measurement values, the received insulin dosage data, and the health data entries stored in the memory, and display the therapy advice message on the user interface. The analysis module causes the processor to generate and display on the user interface a graphical representation of selected blood glucose measurement values, selected insulin dosage data, selected health data entries, or combinations thereof.
In another embodiment, a diabetes health management system for use in a portable device having a global positioning module capable of providing a global positioning signal, a processor, a memory and a user interface includes program code further including a data module and a therapy advice module. The program code causes the processor to determine a present location of the user from the global positioning signal. The data module causes the processor to receive and store user health data in the memory, and generate and store a plurality of location profiles in the memory, each location profile having health data associated therewith. The therapy advice module causes the processor to display a therapy advice message on the user interface of the portable device, wherein the therapy advice message is based on a location profile corresponding with the present location of the user.
In another embodiment, a method of providing diabetes therapy to a user via a portable device includes receiving blood glucose measurement data from a blood glucose measurement device, receiving insulin dosage data from an insulin administration device, and receiving health data entries provided by the user. The method further includes storing the blood glucose measurement data, the insulin dosage data, and the health data entries in a memory location of the portable device, generating a report comprising information selected from the blood glucose measurement data, the insulin dosage data, the health data entries, or combinations thereof. The report is then wirelessly transmitted to a caregiver.
These and additional features provided by the embodiments of the present invention will be more fully understood in view of the following detailed description, in conjunction with the drawings.
The embodiments set forth in the drawings are illustrative and exemplary in nature and not intended to limit the inventions defined by the claims. The following detailed description of the illustrative embodiments can be understood when read in conjunction with the following drawings, where like structure is indicated with like reference numerals and in which:
Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to diabetes health management systems and methods of providing insulin therapy on a portable device. The diabetes health management systems and methods disclosed herein may be incorporated into a hand-held, portable device that a person with diabetes already uses, such as a cellular phone, personal data assistant, or music player, for example. Therefore, a user does not need to purchase an additional electronic device to carry.
Embodiments may provide real-time data collection from diabetes devices such as, but not limited to, blood glucose meters, continuous glucose monitors, and insulin pumps. Embodiments may also provide real-time and prospective insulin therapy guidance to Type 1 and Type 2 patients at the time of insulin dosing. The diabetes management systems described herein communicate with other devices in the system and act as a central hub of information management and user interaction by means of operational control and data display to and from the other devices. Some embodiments also communicate with caregivers of the patient's health support network, such as physicians, family members and emergency contacts, for example. Embodiments may provide the data and information needed so that the user may better manage his or her diabetes. The data collected by the system may be used to develop and refine a therapy provided to the user by use of pattern recognition, patient goals, detailed reports, and informed insulin dosage recommendations and reminders. Further, some embodiments may remotely control an insulin pump worn by the user in accordance with the collected data. These and other features of embodiments of the present disclosure will be discussed in detail below.
Referring initially to
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Also coupled to the communications network 30 is a remote data storage location 40. The remote data storage location 40 may be a health network server that performs the function of a health data vault. Data and information collected from the plurality of diabetes devices 20, plurality of electronic devices 25, and computers 21 may be transmitted to the remote data storage location 40 via the communications network 30 and stored in a secured and encrypted manner. The data and information stored in the remote data storage location 40 may serve as a back up to the data and information that is stored in the memory 13 of the portable device 10. Further, the collected data and information may also be synched and stored on a user's personal computer 21. A user of the diabetes health management system 100 may configure access to the data and information stored in the remote data storage location 40 such that the user's caregivers may also have access to the data and information to further enhance diabetes therapy. Additionally, the user may have secured access to the data and information stored in the remote data storage location 40 through the communications network 30. The user may access the data and information through the portable device 10, a computer 21, or any other device that may be coupled to the communications network 30.
A healthcare network 50 is also coupled to the communications network 30. The health care network 50 enables caregivers such as physicians and healthcare professionals 52, family and friends 51, health care payers 55 (i.e., insurance company), and laboratory and research facilities 54 to access certain data and information collected by the diabetes health management system 100. The user may determine what data and information may be accessible to the various persons and entities that are a part of the healthcare network 50. For example, a user may decide to opt into a diabetes research program in which certain types of diabetes and health related data may be accessible to a research facility 54. Or a user may agree to provide a healthcare payer 55 access to particular progress reports generated by the diabetes health management system 100 such that the healthcare payer 55 may assess the value of the diabetes health management system 100. A healthcare professional 52 and family members 51 may also have access to the data and information. Further, as described in more detail below, the diabetes management system may be configured such that a healthcare professional 52 and/or family members 51 may receive messages regarding important diabetes or health related events, such as, but not limited to, hyperglycemic, hypoglycemic or ketosis states over the communications network 30. The messages may be in any form, such as by SMS text message, e-mail, telephone call, or dedicated electronic device.
The data module 60 receives and processes the data and information from the various coupled devices. The data module 60 may mark or tag data that it receives with a temporal marker such as time and data. The received diabetes data may be blood glucose measurement values provided by a blood glucose meter 23 and/or a continuous blood glucose monitor 22a/b as well as insulin dosage data that is provided by an insulin pump 24, insulin smart pen 31, or user entry. The data may also comprise other information, such as health data entries. Health data entries 101 (see
At block 206, the diabetes health management system 100 receives insulin dosage data by user input 18 through the user interface 11 and/or automatically from an insulin administering device (e.g., wirelessly), which may be an insulin smart pen 31, an insulin pump 24, or other similar devices. The insulin dosage data may comprise information regarding the details of the insulin administered to the user, such as bolus administration data (e.g., bolus shape, rate, timing, velocity, etc.) and basal rate data (e.g., basal rate pattern data, basal interval, basal rate time lag), for example. As described below, the diabetes health management system 100 may use this data to provide a graph of insulin delivery to the user. At block 208, the insulin dosage data may be marked with time and date information (and location information in some embodiments). The insulin data may be automatically marked with time and date information by the insulin administering device prior to being received by the diabetes health management system 100 or it may be marked by the diabetes health management system 100 upon receipt.
At block 210 the diabetes health management system 100 receives health data entries that are inputted into the portable device 10 by the user or determined automatically (e.g., physical activity detected by an accelerometer, hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia determined by blood glucose measurements). As described in detail below, health data entries reflect health-related data such as medication, physical activities, food intake, etc. A life mode selection may also be entered. A life mode is indicative of a life situation that the user is currently experiencing. Exemplary life modes that may be selected and entered by a user may include, but are not limited to, “meeting,” “flight,” “drive,” and “night.” The diabetes health management system 100 may use the user selected life mode to develop and provide a therapy message to the user, or alter insulin delivery. For example, a basal rate of insulin provided by the insulin pump 24 may be modified to a temporary basal rate when a user has selected “drive” to provide more insulin due to user inactivity during the drive. The health data entries and life mode selections may be marked with date, time and location data at block 212. At block 214, the marked blood glucose measurement values, the insulin dosage data, health data entries and life mode selections may be stored in the memory 13 of the portable device 10 by the data module 60. The blood glucose values, insulin dosage data and health data entries may be stored in memory right after receipt.
The data module 60 may also receive data from internal or external sensors and components as well as user-inputted data 18 that the user has inputted into the user interface 11. For example, the portable device 10 may comprise an accelerometer 17 that generates an acceleration signal that corresponds with a movement of the portable device 10. The data module 60 may be configured to receive and store the acceleration signal. The data module 60 may also be configured to process the received acceleration signal to determine a physical activity and an amount of energy consumed. For example, if the acceleration signal corresponds with a relatively low frequency of repeated movement, the data module 60 may determine that the user is walking. The data module 60 may then update the health data entries 101 to reflect the date, time, and duration of the walking session. Any type of physical activity may be detected from the acceleration signal, such as running, cycling, aerobics, etc. Additionally, the portable device 10 may also comprise a GPS circuit 19 that provides a location signal corresponding a location of the user. The data module 60 may receive the location signal and determine the location of the user. The data module may then associate a temporal marker to the location data and store it in the database residing in the memory. In an application where the portable device 10 does not comprises an internal accelerometer or GPS circuit, the communications module 70 may be configured to communicate with external accelerometer and GPS devices.
Medication data entries 102 may include, but are not limited to, data entries associated with a type of medication taken by the user, the dosage amount, and the time of dosage. Medication data entries 102 may be entered by the user into the user interface 11. In some embodiments, a medication database may be stored in the memory of the portable device 10, or accessible on the Internet via the communications network 30. The medication database may comprise medical data relevant to particular types of medication. The user may use the medication database to select the type of medication taken, the dosage amount and the time of the dosage. The medication database may also comprise a picture of a typical medication label for a particular medication. The user may also be able to add custom medication database entries (as well as photos of a medication label) from which he or she may select medication data entries 102. In other embodiments, the user may manually enter the medication data entries 102. The diabetes health management system 100 may be programmed such that a user may enter a schedule of medication and dosage such that the medication data entries 102 are automatically added to the health data entries 101. The diabetes health management system 100 may further be programmed to prompt the user to verify whether he or she actually took the scheduled medication at the scheduled time. The user may select yes or no, or modify a medication data entry (e.g., change the time of dosage or dosage amount). After a medication data entry is created, the data module 60 may store it in an appropriate memory 13 location.
Physical activity data entries 104 are related to physical activities undertaken by the user. For example, physical activities may include, but are not limited to, walking, running, cycling, swimming, weight lifting, aerobics, etc. A user may enter a physical activity, the duration of the physical activity, and the time of the physical activity. Other information may also be provided in the physical activity data entry, such as calories burned (i.e., energy consumed), heart rate, etc. This information may be inputted by the user into the user interface 11, or obtained from an electronic device (e.g., a heart rate monitor) via the communications module 70. The user may select a physical activity and relevant information from a local or on-line database. The user may also add physical activities to the database.
As described above, physical activities may be automatically detected with the use of an accelerometer 17 and an associated acceleration signal. The acceleration signal may be used to detect a physical activity type, a physical activity intensity, a physical activity duration, or other similar physical activity characteristics. In one embodiment, the program code 14 may instruct the user interface 11 to display a message asking the user to verify the physical activity detected. The user may select yes or no, or modify the particulars of the detected physical activity. After the physical activity data entry is entered, either manually or automatically, the data module 60 may store it in an appropriate memory 13 location.
Data inputted into the health state data entries 105 relate to a health state or status of the user. Health states may include, but are not limited to, stress level, energy level, premenstrual, pregnancy, illness, etc. A user may enter a health state data entry when the user is in a particular health state. A health state database may be presented to the user on the user interface 11 in which the user may select the appropriate health state or states. The user may add user-defined health states to the health state database for future selection. A temporal marker may be manually or automatically applied to each health state data entry. After the health state data entry is entered, the data module 60 may store it in an appropriate memory 13 location. Health state data entries 105 may also be detected automatically. For example, instances of hypoglycemia and hyperglycemia may be automatically tagged as an event/health state data entry when the blood glucose measurement data is below/above particular thresholds.
The food data entries 106 category of the health data entries 101 database relate to food items and related nutritional information of food consumed by the user. When a user consumes a particular food item, he or she may enter that food item and serving size information into the food data entries 106. The user may manually enter a food item and a serving size or may select a food item and serving size from a food database that resides in the memory of the portable device 10 or is located remotely and accessible via the communications module 70 and communications circuit 16.
Before or after a user consumes a food item or items, he or she may access the food database 110 user through the user interface 11 of the portable device 10. The user may select a food item from the food database 110, enter a date and time of consumption and how many servings he or she consumed. In some embodiments, the user may take a photograph (e.g., using an internal camera feature of the portable device 10 or an external camera) of the food item and save it to the food entry. The photograph may be used by the user to enter the food item data at another time, or it may be transmitted to a caregiver such as a nutritionist for further analysis. Additionally, some embodiments may enable the user to create a voice recording that describes the food items that were consumed so that he or she may later enter the food item data at a more convenient time.
In one embodiment, a GPS signal provided by an internal GPS circuit 19 within the portable device 10 or an external GPS device 26 in communication with the portable device may be used to detect a location (e.g., a food serving establishment) of the user and provide food recommendations based on the present location of the user. As described in more detail below, the therapy module 80 may provide a therapy advice message to the user in the form of a food selection advice based on the food offerings of the detected food serving establishment, the diabetes data (e.g., blood glucose measurement values, insulin dosage data), and health data entries. Additionally, the food items offered by the detected food serving establishment may be initially and prominently displayed to the user on the user interface 11 when the user accesses the food database, or when the user enters the food serving establishment. In this manner, the specific food items offered by the food serving establishment are easy for the user to locate and select.
The selected food items may then be stored in a memory 13 location by the data module 60. For any of the data entry types discussed above, digital photographs and voice recording may be associated thereto. The data collected and stored within the memory 13 by the data module 60 may be accessed and viewed by the user via the user interface 11 of the portable device 10, a computer 21, or other similar devices.
Referring again to
The diabetes health management system 100 may be programmed such that the user may retrieve and review past therapy advice messages on the user interface 11. Additionally, the user may retrieve and review relevant data associated with the recommendation as well as acceptance/override information. In this manner, the user may review past recommendations to determine if he or she agrees with a current recommendation and whether to accept or override/decline the recommendation given by the therapy advice message 82.
Further, as described below, the therapy module 80 may request one or more user profiles 84 from the data module 60 or retrieve the one or more user profiles 84 directly from the memory. A user profile 84 comprises historical data about the user and provides trending and predictive analysis. For example, a user profile may be directed toward a user's physical activity, insulin absorption, food intake at a particular location. The user profile 84 may consist of a single user profile that contains profile information such as food intake data, physical activity data, insulin response information such as the user's blood glucose response to insulin dosage as well as a location profiles, if desired. In other embodiments, the diabetes health management system 100 may develop separate profiles (e.g., a food profile, exercise profile, etc.) for the user.
The therapy module 80 may then use the user profile 84 to predict a user's behavior and response to insulin therapy. In this manner, the diabetes health management system may “learn” the user's behavior. Using the user profile 84 and the retrieved data 81, or only the user profile 84 where the profile contains all of the relevant data, the therapy module 80 may provide a therapy advice message 82 to the user. The therapy module 80 causes the program code 14 to instruct the user interface 11 to display the therapy advice message 82 automatically or upon user request. As illustrated in
At block 218, the data module 60 retrieves stored physical activity data entries and generates an exercise profile. The data module 60 may also retrieve blood glucose measurement data that is close to each physical activity data entry (e.g., blood glucose measurement data from initiation of the physical activity to two hours after completion of the physical activity) and adds this data to the exercise profile. In this manner, the diabetes health management system 100 may learn the exercise habits of the user (e.g., a three mile run every Monday, Wednesday and Friday mornings) as well as the blood glucose response due to the physical activity. At block 220, the therapy module 80 may use the exercise profile to develop and provide a therapy advice message 82 such issuing a blood glucose reminder, or remotely control the insulin pump 24 to provide an insulin dose in accordance with a predicted physical activity or a recently undertaken physical activity. For example, if a user normally goes on a Monday morning run, the therapy module 80 may issue a therapy advice message 82 with bolus advice, basil or pre-mix insulin advice in accordance with the user exercise profile. Or, the user may input a physical data entry corresponding to a weight lifting session. The therapy module 80 may use the exercise profile to look up the user's response to weight lifting and provide a therapy advice message 82 to the user accordingly. The blood glucose measurement data after each physical activity may be linked to or stored in the exercise profile so that the diabetes health management system 100 may continuously learn the blood glucose responses to the various physical activities.
The diabetes health management system 100 may also be programmed to generate location profiles that contain diabetes and health related data associated with a location of a user. A user's food intake, physical activity level, reaction to insulin, stress level, etc. may vary from location to location. For example, the physical activity level of a user at his or her workplace may be lower than an his or her home if the user works at a desk for the majority of his or her workday. Therefore, the basal rate or rates necessary at work during the work day may be different than the basal rate or rates necessary at home on the weekend.
Referring now to
The location of the user may be provided by the user via the user input 11 or determined automatically by a GPS signal provided by an internal GPS circuit 19 or an external GPS device 26.
At block 224, data (e.g., blood glucose measurement values and health data entries) associated with the location may be stored in the appropriate location profile. For example, all of the food that a user eats, the physical activity undertaken, blood glucose measurement, etc. at a particular location may be stored in the respective user profile. The therapy module 80 may use these location profiles to predict user behavior, health and blood glucose responses at each location and provide a therapy advice message 82 accordingly. In this manner, the diabetes health management system 100 may know the user's lifestyle patterns at various locations. A user may be more active on the weekend while at home by doing activities such as yard work and house work and may therefore require less insulin than when the user is at work. Conversely, a user that works in a field that requires manual labor may need less insulin while at work than when he or she is at home. The therapy module 80 may make these insulin dosing recommendations by using the location profiles.
The therapy module 80 may be programmed to provide a therapy advice message 82 in the form of one or more reminders. The reminders may be presented to the user by way of text or graphical displays (e.g., icons) provided on the user interface 11 or customizable audio reminders such as tones, songs or user-recorded voice recordings. The reminders may include, without limitation, blood glucose testing reminders (e.g., post prandial, episodic testing), insulin dosing reminders, medication reminders, and physical activity reminders. The reminders provided by the therapy module 80 may match the reminders/warnings issued by the plurality of diabetes devices 20. For example, the insulin pump 24, which may be in communication with the diabetes health management system 100, may provide a reminder to the user. The therapy module 80 may be programmed to provide an insulin pump 24 reminder on the user interface 11 that uses the same reminder terminology as issued by the insulin pump 24.
Reminders may be configured as time based or event based. Exemplary event-based reminders may include, without limitation, blood glucose test reminders after a hypoglycemic event, a hyperglycemic event, or after a meal. For example, the user may configure and receive a hypo/hyper blood glucose re-test reminder including relevant data triggered by a high or low blood glucose result either from a blood glucose meter 23 or a continuous glucose monitor 22a/b. The therapy module 80 may also be configured to accept user-programmed reminders. The user may select and/or define the time-based and event-based reminders. Reminders may be a single reminder or repeatable. Non critical reminders may be dismissed or postponed by the user. Reminders may be suspended if the reminder action was performed within a period of time prior to the reminder time (e.g., a user tests his or her blood glucose fifteen minutes prior to the reminder time).
The therapy module 80 may also be programmed to provide structured reminders to the user based on a scheduled event entry. The structured reminders may alter a normal reminder and insulin therapy schedule. For example, if a user has an appointment with his or her doctor, the doctor may wish to alter a testing schedule to have more blood glucose measurements during certain parts of the day. Or, as another example, if a user is determining his or her morning basal requirements, the therapy module 80 may issue a reminder to the user on the user interface that reminds the user to not eat breakfast and to test his or her blood glucose regularly until lunchtime.
In some embodiments, the therapy module 80 may be programmed to issue warnings to the user on the user interface 11 or by audio signals. The warnings may be based on a warning being provided by a diabetes device such as an insulin pump 24, an insulin smart pen 31, a blood glucose meter 23, or a continuous glucose monitor 22a/22b, for example. Such warnings may relate to device maintenance, device errors, device malfunctions, low battery power, etc. Warnings may also be issued when the user selects a basal rate profile that is empty and does not contain data. The user may prompted to edit the basal rate profile. Therefore, the user may obtain information and warnings relating to the plurality of diabetes devices 20 (and other devices) from the portable device 10.
Additional warnings may include, for example, hypoglycemic or hyperglycemic warnings if blood glucose measurements are below/above customized thresholds. These warnings may be configured as an emergency alarm. The warning may comprise a visual graphic on the user interface 11 and/or an audible tone. A warning may also be provided after a missed blood glucose test after a bolus was requested without a blood glucose result received by the portable device 10. It will be understood that other warnings may also be issued.
To further aid the user in managing his or her diabetes, the therapy module 80 of the diabetes health management system 100 may also be programmed to allow the user to set goals relating to various health parameters so that the user may attempt to meet such user-defined goals. For example, goals may include energy burned, number of steps taken, blood pressure values, calories, carbohydrates, fat, or protein ingested, glycemic variability, cholesterol/lipids, etc. The therapy module 80 may be programmed to present health parameter values in tables, graphs, messages, etc. so that the user may track his or her progress in accomplishing the goal or goals. The goal setting feature may also be incorporated into a game that includes educational information to aid the user in managing his or her diabetes and health in general. The user may also opt-in to receive periodic advice/feedback messages regarding the user's progress versus his or her entered goals.
Referring now to
For example, the diabetes health management system 100 may be utilized to remotely configure and control an insulin administering device, such as an insulin pump 24 or insulin smart pen 31. The user may set up the insulin administering device with an insulin dosage. The user may be able to select the dosage amount from a list of insulin dosage step size units (e.g., whole, half or quarter units). The user-selected dosage amount may be wirelessly sent to the insulin administering device.
The user may be able to use the diabetes health management system 100 and portable device 10 to control pump functions of the insulin pump 24. The system 100 may be programmed to wirelessly send user-defined bolus delivery commands to the insulin pump 24. The bolus delivery commands may be generated automatically upon the user's acceptance/override of the therapy advice message 82 provided by the therapy module 80. The user may also use the system 100 to adjust bolus delivery properties of the insulin pump 24 such as bolus delivery velocity from the portable device 10. The user may also adjust a time lag for the initiation of a bolus. The diabetes health management system 100 may also control the insulin administering device in accordance with user-defined basal rate profiles. The user may define time intervals for basal rate profiles (e.g., definable time blocks in 15 minute intervals), and define an adaptive bolus to be administered by the insulin pump 24. An adaptive bolus may be defined as a combination of several extended boli administered within a set time frame. The adaptive bolus may modulate a pre-defined postprandial insulin infusion based on food recently consumed by the user.
In addition to remotely controlling the insulin pump 24, the diabetes health management system 100 may be programmed to receive data from the insulin pump 24 (or other insulin administering device such as an insulin smart pen 31) such that the data may be viewed on the user interface 11 of the portable device 10. The system 100 may configure and display this data such that the user may graphically view the progress of the current bolus delivery amount, review active insulin data, and historical insulin pump data graphs and/or table formats. Insulin administration data received from the insulin pump 24 may be presented to the user on the user interface 11 in a user-selectable time range (e.g., one minute, five minutes, ten minutes, etc.)
The diabetes health management system 100 may also be utilized to control and configure other diabetes devices 20 (and electronic devices 25) in which the portable device 10 may be electronically coupled.
The diabetes health management system 100 may be programmed to notify caregivers of warnings, blood glucose measurements, reminders, and other data via the communications module 70. The method of notification may include, but not limited to, SMS text message, e-mail, and automated telephone call. The method of notification may depend on the particular caregiver and the severity/urgency of the notification. The user may define which caregivers (e.g., mother, father, physician, etc.) receive what type of notification (e.g., hyperglycemic condition, ketosis, missed blood glucose measurement, etc.). The information contained within the notification may be defined by the user.
Referring once again to
The reports generated by the analysis module 90 may comprise graphical representation of health related data, and may be presented in table and/or graph format. The health related data may comprise data from a blood glucose meter 23, continuous glucose monitor 22a/22b, insulin pump 24, food data entries 106, physical activity entries 104, etc. Reports may display average health related data values over a selectable period of time, as well as indicate trends of health related data. Other reports may display a snapshot of blood glucose measurement data over a particular range of time (e.g., a three-day snapshot).
Reports may also be event based. Events may be contained in the health data entries (e.g., physical activity data entries, medication data entries, health state data entries, and food data entries). For example, a user may select a particular event to generate a report depicting relevant data near in time to one or more multiple occurrences of that event in a table or graphical format. An exemplary report 140 displayed on a user interface 11 of a portable device 10 is illustrated in
According to the exemplary report 140, four instances of hypoglycemia were tagged as events within the date range of February 15th through April 20th. The four hypoglycemic events are represented by the data sets 159 within the graph area 161. The hypoglycemic events were tagged when the blood glucose of the user fell below 70 mg/dL. A user may use this report 140 to evaluate how quickly he or she entered a hypoglycemic state and how quickly he or she recovers. Reports relating to other events may also be generated, such as hyperglycemia, exercise, illness, stress, menstrual state, food intake, ketosis, etc. As described above, the events may be tagged manually by the user or detected automatically.
Reports may also combine and present to the user multiple, related data sets. These reports may provide cause and effect analysis to the user so that the user may determine what actions he or she took to lead to a particular event or condition. For example, a user may generate a hypoglycemic report that also provides health data near in time to a particular hypoglycemic state that the user experienced. This information may aid the user in learning about how he or she enters a hypoglycemic state as well as effective actions to get out of a hypoglycemic state.
The reports generated by the analysis module 90 may be printed to a printer, exported to an external program (e.g., Microsoft Excel) for further analysis, saved for later access and/or transmitted to caregivers. The analysis module 90 may be programmed to compile caregiver-specific reports. For example, reports may be tailored toward family, health care professions such as physicians, and health care payers. The reports transmitted to family and health care professionals may aid in supporting the user with his or her diabetes, while reports transmitted to health care payers may enable the health care payer to view the progress and success of the user under the insulin therapy provided by the diabetes health management system 100. Reports may be sent to the user's caregiver so that the user and the caregiver may remotely and concurrently review the report together to discuss the user's progress and condition.
The diabetes health management system 100 may also be programmed to shift an insulin therapy from a first time zone schedule to a second time zone schedule. As diabetes management may be schedule-dependent, it may be desirable to shift the therapy such that the advice presented to the user is incrementally shifted from the first time zone to the second time zone. For example, if a user travels from New York to Los Angeles, the therapy module 80 may be programmed to incrementally shift from the Eastern Time Zone to the Pacific Time Zone by gradually moving the reminders of when to eat, when to dose insulin, how to adjust basal rates, etc. such that after a period of time (e.g., three days) the user is accustomed to the Pacific Time Zone. The user may define a time zone change profile that instructs the diabetes health management system 100 how to shift the insulin therapy. For example, the user may input how many days the he or she will be in the new time zone, how quickly he or she desires to shift to the new time zone, what type of schedule he or she intends to adhere to (e.g., meetings, physical activity), etc. such that the therapy module 80 may provide therapy advice messages accordingly.
After the location of the user and the new time zone is determined, the user may be prompted to decide whether or not to shift the insulin therapy to the new time zone therapy schedule at block 244. If the user is only going on a short trip, he or she may not elect to shift the therapy schedule, for example, and may then follow the old time zone therapy schedule at block 246. If the user elects to shift the therapy schedule, the insulin therapy may be incrementally shifted to the new time zone therapy schedule over time, which may be over the course of several days (block 248). The insulin therapy is incrementally shifted (blocks 250 and 248) until the insulin therapy is aligned with the new time zone. The therapy module 80 then provides therapy advice messages in accordance with the new time zone therapy schedule at block 252.
The diabetes health management system 100 may be programmed to provide additional therapy related features to the user. For example, the diabetes management system 100 may connect to the Internet through the communications module 70 and communications circuit 16 to provide educational diabetes and health training videos in an embedded web browser. The training videos may provide therapy guidance on a wide variety of topics and levels of skill, such as how to inject insulin, how to treat a hypoglycemic episode, or new products and technologies that may be available. The embedded web browser may also provide the user access to various diabetes related message boards and social networking sites that allow patients with diabetes to collaborate with one another. The diabetes health management system 100 may also wirelessly connect to the Internet to provide access to information regarding nutritional content of food, information regarding pharmaceuticals, etc.
It should now be understood that diabetes health management systems described herein may be operable to provide real-time diabetes and health related data collection and storage. Embodiments may couple user devices to a central, portable device for data collection and communication. The data may be wirelessly (or by wired connection) obtained from medical devices such as blood glucose meters, continuous glucose monitors, and insulin pumps, and other electronic devices such as pedometers, pulse sensors, and blood pressure monitors. Embodiments may also provide real-time and prospective insulin therapy guidance to users based on the collected data and hardware provided within the portable device. Data may be shared with caregivers to monitor and provide support to the user. Embodiments may generate and transmit custom reports based on the collected data, as well as remotely control electronic devices.
It is noted that recitations herein of a component of a particular embodiment being “programmed” in a particular way, “configured,” “programmed” or “operable” to embody a particular property, or function in a particular manner, are structural recitations as opposed to recitations of intended use. More specifically, the references herein to the manner in which a component is “programmed,” “configured” or “operable” denotes an existing physical condition of the component and, as such, is to be taken as a definite recitation of the structural characteristics of the component.
Having described the invention in detail and by reference to specific embodiments thereof, it will be apparent that modifications and variations are possible without departing from the scope of the invention defined in the appended claims. More specifically, although some aspects of the present invention may be identified herein as preferred or particularly advantageous, it is contemplated that the present invention is not necessarily limited to these preferred aspects of the invention.
